No ticket price increases in 2021

[2206]

NX weren't so open about reducing the service 30% on my local route in the daytime.

Which route?

I would guess its probably lack of passengers.
I think 80 along Icknield Port Road and Ladywood doubled in frequency a few years back so 100% increase and X20/X21/X22 corridor between University Station and City Centre and X12/X70 through Bromford have also has seen a 100+% increase in comparison to the predecessor routes. Probably others as well.

[j789]

A notice has gone up in buses saying fares are frozen.
NX weren't so open about reducing the service 30% on my local route in the daytime.

Yes which route as 30% reduction could be moving from every 6 to every 8 minute frequency, not exactly a big increase. Even going from every 12 to 15 mins isn't exactly an excessively long wait for a bus.
The overall bus picture in the West Midlands is much improved from the 2000s. All vehicles are fully accessible and there has been massive investment in high quality new vehicles. My favourite buses were the Metrobuses and as much as I miss them and wish some were still in service, I can't deny that the vehicles are much nicer to travel on now comfort wise.

[JoNi]

Which route?

I would guess its probably lack of passengers.
I think 80 along Icknield Port Road and Ladywood doubled in frequency a few years back so 100% increase and X20/X21/X22 corridor between University Station and City Centre and X12/X70 through Bromford have also has seen a 100+% increase in comparison to the predecessor routes. Probably others as well.

In my case Coventry route 17/A its fourth route number in under 10 years!
This is not the only route in Coventry that has suffered headway reductions in September changes when cross City links were altered linking busier route ends with quieter route ends presumably to enhance their apparent financial performance. I appreciate buses are likely to have been freed up to provide Covid sweeper journeys so expect headways to be restored after Covid.

When I asked a lost passenger in Pool Meadow if they needed help , he said "Why are they always changing the bloody route numbers"!
I rarely travel by bus in Birmingham since introduction of utilitarian Platinum buses on X1, which are also used on the routes you mention.

[Tony]

utilitarian Platinum buses on X1, which are also used on the routes you mention.

Definition of Utilarian

"designed to be useful or practical rather than attractive"

So as they are useful and practical what is the problem

[JoNi]

Yes which route as 30% reduction could be moving from every 6 to every 8 minute frequency, not exactly a big increase. Even going from every 12 to 15 mins isn't exactly an excessively long wait for a bus.
The overall bus picture in the West Midlands is much improved from the 2000s. All vehicles are fully accessible and there has been massive investment in high quality new vehicles. My favourite buses were the Metrobuses and as much as I miss them and wish some were still in service, I can't deny that the vehicles are much nicer to travel on now comfort wise.

The Coventry service 17 has reduced from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes, which now suffers the effects of traffic congestion in Walsgrave Hospital leading 24 minute gap when I checked phone for next bus recently. The Metrobuses were superb buses having comfortable seats shaped for sufficient leg room, which also matched up with window pillars.

[Tony]

The Coventry service 17 has reduced from every 10 minutes to every 15 minutes, which now suffers the effects of traffic congestion in Walsgrave Hospital leading 24 minute gap when I checked phone for next bus recently. The Metrobuses were superb buses having comfortable seats shaped for sufficient leg room, which also matched up with window pillars.

So a platinum with much more legroom than a Metrobus and also windows lined up with seats is what?

[JoNi]

Definition of Utilarian

"designed to be useful or practical rather than attractive"

So as they are useful and practical what is the problem

Hi Tony
It was a word used to describe the seats in NXs 20 to Nuneaton in a comparison made on the blog of BusandTrainUser with Stagecoachs route 48 Gold bus.

The problem is West Midlands bus users are conditioned to expect no better.
Sample a ride in the plush bright interior of a brand new Witchway bus on a drab soggy day in Manchester for an equivalent journey to the X1.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NxFpIMOtaXg&feature=youtu.be

Both TfWM and NX have leaders of Customer Experience whose key role should be to motivate travellers to expect the best that can be achieved.

[Tony]

Hi Tony
It was a word used to describe the seats in NXs 20 to Nuneaton in a comparison made on the blog of BusandTrainUser with Stagecoachs route 48 Gold bus.

The problem is West Midlands bus users are conditioned to expect no better.
Sample a ride in the plush bright interior of a brand new Witchway bus on a drab soggy day in Manchester for an equivalent journey to the X1.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NxFpIMOtaXg&feature=youtu.be

Both TfWM and NX have leaders of Customer Experience whose key role should be to motivate travellers to expect the best that can be achieved.

You used it to describe the buses on the X1 though

[ellspurs]

In my case Coventry route 17/A its fourth route number in under 10 years!
This is not the only route in Coventry that has suffered headway reductions in September changes when cross City links were altered linking busier route ends with quieter route ends presumably to enhance their apparent financial performance. I appreciate buses are likely to have been freed up to provide Covid sweeper journeys so expect headways to be restored after Covid.

When I asked a lost passenger in Pool Meadow if they needed help , he said "Why are they always changing the bloody route numbers"!
I rarely travel by bus in Birmingham since introduction of utilitarian Platinum buses on X1, which are also used on the routes you mention.

*complains about route numbers changing*

*refers to a company that uses the same route number for its route between Coventry and Atherstone/Leicester*

Oh was it the 57/58/157/158 you were waiting for to get to Leicester from Nuneaton? Nah, it's now the 48. Not that one, that goes in the opposite direction to Atherstone. Yes, it is still the 48 but it is so much better than those poxy people in the West Midlands hur hur hur.

And in 2000 the Stagecoach fare from Nuneaton to Bedworth was 3x the TWM fare from Solihull to Bedworth.

On a journey I used to do frequently to get to work, it would cost 99p on the 777 from Chelmsley Wood to Atherstone, over £5 from Atherstone to Bedworth.

[JoNi]

Yes which route as 30% reduction could be moving from every 6 to every 8 minute frequency, not exactly a big increase. Even going from every 12 to 15 mins isn't exactly an excessively long wait for a bus.
The overall bus picture in the West Midlands is much improved from the 2000s. All vehicles are fully accessible and there has been massive investment in high quality new vehicles. My favourite buses were the Metrobuses and as much as I miss them and wish some were still in service, I can't deny that the vehicles are much nicer to travel on now comfort wise.

When checking Real time app when walking to bus stop this afternoon for 15 minute service it said first bus 15 minutes, second bus 16 minutes. By moving forward up the route I found the gap to the previous bus was 26 minutes on what used to be a 10 minute service. You can't prove it using bustimes but I can send a screenshot from my phone as experience tells me buses have a habit of suddenly disappearing when gaps appear!

[bususer28]

When checking Real time app when walking to bus stop this afternoon for 15 minute service it said first bus 15 minutes, second bus 16 minutes. By moving forward up the route I found the gap to the previous bus was 26 minutes on what used to be a 10 minute service. You can't prove it using bustimes but I can send a screenshot from my phone as experience tells me buses have a habit of suddenly disappearing when gaps appear!

I don't think you can moan that much when the West Midlands has one of the largest and most complex urban bus network in the whole of the UK mainly down to the fact we don't have a significant rapid transit system. I will insist this despite what others think, NX do a cracking job when you look that they operate over 80% of the services in the area and serve so many people and do it very, very well and for relatively good value for money.

[j789]

When checking Real time app when walking to bus stop this afternoon for 15 minute service it said first bus 15 minutes, second bus 16 minutes. By moving forward up the route I found the gap to the previous bus was 26 minutes on what used to be a 10 minute service. You can't prove it using bustimes but I can send a screenshot from my phone as experience tells me buses have a habit of suddenly disappearing when gaps appear!

But even with a 10 min frequency if the same 15 minute delay occurred the passenger would still be waiting 26 minutes for the bus, it would just be that the second bus would also be running a few minutes late rather than on time like the second bus in your example. Maybe doing the frequency decrease actually improves punctuality of the service as in your example 1 out of two buses is on time whereas in mine with the every 10 minute frequency both would be late!!!

[JoNi]

But even with a 10 min frequency if the same 15 minute delay occurred the passenger would still be waiting 26 minutes for the bus, it would just be that the second bus would also be running a few minutes late rather than on time like the second bus in your example. Maybe doing the frequency decrease actually improves punctuality of the service as in your example 1 out of two buses is on time whereas in mine with the every 10 minute frequency both would be late!!!

This a service pottering up and down to a local estate with negotiable traffic congestion at the Cheylesmore end.

[JoNi]

I don't think you can moan that much when the West Midlands has one of the largest and most complex urban bus network in the whole of the UK mainly down to the fact we don't have a significant rapid transit system. I will insist this despite what others think, NX do a cracking job when you look that they operate over 80% of the services in the area and serve so many people and do it very, very well and for relatively good value for money.

Like you I see no point in moaning so I devised a customer charter with an accountable leader for each aspect of the thirty aspects of a bus journey and forwarded to those in positions of influence in TfWM and NX.
I successfully tested it by contacting the leaders I felt ultimately responsible for two of these aspects (destination display and timetables)
A bus blind that had been defective for eight years was fixed in two weeks.
Timetables and panels missing from a bus rail interchange appeared within a week proving it is possible achieve specific customer led expectations.

I dont exaggerate when I say there aren't enough hours in the day to report everything I see let alone strive to improve, so after Covid I will plant the notion with influential  leaders for all office based TfWM and NX staff at all levels to sample services as mystery customers!